Month: May 2015

This week is Death Awareness week, and I went to a Death Cafe. I've taken part in several of these over the last couple of years. DCs simply provide an opportunity for people to meet and talk about death. In the one I attend you gather round small tables for the first half of the evening, and then get into a wider circle for the second half. The conversation can be about people's fear of death, or about their need to process past experiences (though it is explicitly not a therapy session); or it may just take a direction of its own, according to what the participants bring to the table.…

A 'World Happiness Report' sounds rather implausible; or Orwellian. But it exists, and has been put together by some top-flight authors - John Helliwell from Canada, Richard Layard from the UK and Jeffrey Sachs of the US. Even if I disagree with the 'happiness' title, it's a big step towards measuring things that are important for our quality of life. (The authors admit the label is there for marketing purposes - 'wellbeing' would be far preferable in my view.) The WHR focuses on six determinants of happiness/wellbeing: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom to make life choices, absence of corruption and generosity/giving. Much of the report is unsurprising in itself…

This week is Death Awareness week, and I went to a Death Cafe. I've taken part in several of these over the last couple of years. DCs simply provide an opportunity for people to meet and talk about death. In the one I attend you gather round small tables for the first half of the evening, and then get into a wider circle for the second half. The conversation can be about people's fear of death, or about their need to process past experiences (though it is explicitly not a therapy session); or it may just take a direction of its own, according to what the participants bring to the table.…

A 'World Happiness Report' sounds rather implausible; or Orwellian. But it exists, and has been put together by some top-flight authors - John Helliwell from Canada, Richard Layard from the UK and Jeffrey Sachs of the US. Even if I disagree with the 'happiness' title, it's a big step towards measuring things that are important for our quality of life. (The authors admit the label is there for marketing purposes - 'wellbeing' would be far preferable in my view.) The WHR focuses on six determinants of happiness/wellbeing: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom to make life choices, absence of corruption and generosity/giving. Much of the report is unsurprising in itself…